Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, has stated that about 45 per cent of the coronavirus positive cases recorded are from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The governor stated this Tuesday while receiving officials of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC ) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) who visited him on a courtesy visit at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan.
“We know that for us to be able to identify how the virus is operating within our environment and community, we have to do more testing and structure in such a way that if we pull in all of the results, we can put it on the map . For example, to date, about 45 per cent of the positive cases we have had in Oyo state is from UCH,” he said.
Makinde added: “So, I asked the team to meet with the UCH management so that we can have a common solution. If we need to wall off UCH or take further action, we really want to know, the only way we can map out the state and confidently say of how the virus is behaving. And even if we want to open up fully for economic activities, we want to be able to do it utilising logic and signs.”
Speaking further, the governor stated that going by the situation in the state , there is need to increase the number of laboratories in the state, especially that at the IITA, going by the large population and the desire to increase testing facilities.
The governor said the institution had written letter to the NCDC and the state government in respect of the request for certification of the laboratory.
The governor stated that Oyo, as a vast and populated state required additional laboratory centres, adding that if Lagos has six certified laboratories by NCDC, then two or three laboratories wouldn’t be bad for Oyo state.
